Clarin

This will be her 3rd Spring Recess in Paris so she's familiar w/the city. Certainly not fluent but understands a lot (just 1 1/2 yrs of French class). I know from experience that I need some solo time (daily) or I'll implode. Her interests are typical of a girl her age. We'll be based in the 7th (yeah, kerouac, I know, I know...) but not limited to that area; can walk or subway happily on her own.

Travelnut

Is it possible to go to a specific area, say Ile St Louis - you tell daughter you're sitting right here in this cafe to people-watch, and she can wander the shops, look at the Seine, etc. and meet you back at 'your' cafe in 2 hours? .... or something similar to that idea.

MilenaM

Get her hooked on Alexandre Dumas novels before you leave for Paris, and once there book her a Versailles day trip, or a full day tour on the Loire Valley. My first visit (alone)in Paris I did a similar trip and saw Chateau Blois, Amboise, Chenonceau, etc, came home very tired yet with plenty of memories.

Gretchen

I don't think I would be particularly comfortable letting her just "go" alone. The idea of Travelnut's is good and putting her on a supervised tour is good. But just out and about--not me.

highflyer

If her interests are typical of a girl her age do you mean shopping?

Follow Travelnut's suggestion in an area she's chosen to shop in.

Celiaanne

Clarin/kerouac, what's wrong with the 7th?

Clarin

Hah! What's wrong with the 7th indeed? Depends on who you ask. We love it because we virtually never see tourists (you don't HAVE to visit Rue Cler) & we never hear English spoken & there are no touristy shops. We feel like Parisians. There are countless nice shops & wonderful restaurants & cafes in the area. We find the location perfect for walking or subwaying. Lastly, it's quiet at night. Kerouac, on the otherhand, feels it is undoubtedly the most lacking of the neighborhoods. Hey - I respect his opinion & have always learned a lot from his posts, so to each his own. I only put in my aside to him because I wanted to beat him to the punch.

Clarin

Thank you all for your responses. Yes, shopping is what she wants to do. Travelnut - you've come to my aid in the past, & again you've made a very nice suggestion. Great idea for a win-win situation.

MilenaM - thanks for the Dumas idea. Very good. As for the tour idea, my husband made a similar suggestion but I'm having none of it, & I know I may be very much alone on this one. Here's the thing: I trust my daughter 100% to make the right decisions regarding her safety, & I am not comfortable putting another adult (whom I do not know) in a position of authority in my stead. I would definitely drop her off for a cooking class or something like that, but to send her off on a bus/train w/someone else in charge of her safety . . . can't do it. I know the odds are very small of something "happening" where a tour guide would make a decision I wouldn't be happy with, but I can eliminate those odds completely if I keep my daughter in control of her own destiny. Again, I know my feelings on this are probably not the norm, and it doesn't invalidate the suggestion by any means, obviously. So thank you.

StCirq

The 7th is my favorite arrondissement, and I'm not apologizing to anyone for it.

I let my daughter wander in certain areas of Paris when she was 14, but she knew the city better than any other, even better than DC, which is only a few miles from our suburb here in the USA. She knew the metro system too, which helps. And she spoke French well.

I did make sure she had a watch and met me back at a specific place after a few hours. Generally speaking, all she wanted to do was wander around and shop or go see the Mary Cassats in the Musee d' Orsay. She also had a cell phone and would communicate with me on it.

If both of you are comfortable with this arrangement, I don't see any major red flags.

Travelnut

What about putting her on one of the Fat Tire Bike Tours? Group of people, never any bad reports, lots of fun for her, good activity. (not shopping, of course!)

Back to Ile St Louis, your daughter might enjoy shopping in the Pylônes
store, 57 rue St. Louis-en-Ile
http://www.pylones.com/accueil.php?lang=en

KayF

Would she enjoy a guided walking tour? We did two last time in Paris and really enjoyed them but we're a lot older. You can go with her to the start point (no need to book) and pay and ask the guide where the finishing point will be and roughly what time to meet back up. The walks usually take about 2 or 2 1/2 hours. Follow the Paris link on www.walks.com

Kay

Vicky

I would not let her out of my sight. Not at 14. On the other hand, I was 15 and on one of those school trips to Germany that was very much NOT supervised and I wandered around Berlin and some small towns alone. But it was 1969.

Mimar

Both of you having cell phones is a good idea.

How about letting her loose in one of the big department stores, like Galeries Lafette or Printemps? (Maybe there's some other store more appropriate to a teen-age girl.) You could make a meeting time at the store restaurant or wherever.

WillTravel

My daughter visited the Opera Garnier building and the wax museum on her own when she was 15 (and some other places). Once you arrive together at the wax museum, you can part ways and she should be able to manage the easy walk to the opera, and also look at stuff around there. Then you can arrange to meet up at some cafe whenever you like.

Padraig

I see a number of people here suggesting that Clarin adopt a very high level of protectiveness for her daughter, even though she did not ask advice on that. Let her be the judge of her daughter's competence, and I assume that they will agree some sensible procedures. Remember, we are considering something that thousands of girls that age do in Paris every day, and they generally don't come to any harm -- but most of them, being Parisian, speak fluent French.

My first thought, when shopping was mentioned, was Boulevard Hausmann.

nytraveler

Well - I guess I'm in the minority but we let my step-daughters - 11 and 14 but both with basic French - go off shopping in the afternoon while we did something else. (I'm not a shopper and at that age it appears to be universally a key activity.)

(For those who think we were nuts, they were NYC kids and perfectly well to deal with subways, shopping, museums and movies here. Why should Paris be different?)

We just asked in the hotel what areas kids their age in Paris shopped in - and off they went to explore it - but with strict limits on the credit cards.

The problem is, that kind of activity is much more fun with a friend.

I agree on not sending her off on a day tour group - it probably won't be fun for her at all. The bike tour sounds like an option though. Why not ask in the hotel for where the kids hang out - sure to be teen shopping there - and perhaps she'll make a French friend.

travelbunny

..the cooking class idea would be good as she would have fun and cant get lost. I would suggest Eric at cooknwithclass..really low key. I took a ParisVision 1 day tour to the Loire. She would be perfectly safe as we were shepperded from one Chateau to the next with head counts on and off the bus.

Clarin

Thanks, Padraig. I knew I'd receive concerned responses. Alas, I thought it'd be tedious to give the details as to why I'd let my 14-yr-old loose in the city. She is smart & has understood from age 3 that the world is dangerous & you have to be careful.(Nothing happened to her; I'm just saying that at 3 she truly understood.)

When she was 12, on her 3rd trip to New York, I decided she could go out on her own. She left the hotel (w/cell phone) and happily walked from E.59th up to the 80's, returning a few hours later w/information on every Starbucks location on the upper east side, as well as knowledge about a number of places she thought I might be interested in!

We will each have cells, watches, phones & maps in Paris. I will also make sure she knows how to clearly state (in French): "get away from me ... do not touch me" and other helpful phrases, in addition to the usual ones.

If I only allowed my daughter to do things that I was completely comfortable with, she'd live a desperate life indeed. She'd still be riding her bike only as far as I can see her from the house. Perhaps I allow her to explore cities in a fashion that most mothers would not, but I'd wager that my daughter is more acutely aware of what can happen to her (if she makes a bad decision) than 99.9% of children her age.

Whew! That wasn't meant to sound defensive, but I guess it does. I can understand why people could have a problem w/letting a child go off on their own, so I'm giving you my perspective to make things more clear. Again, I do appreciate all of the great ideas.

WillTravel

Clarin, I follow the same philosophy, so you aren't alone.

LAwoman

Me too. Have a 15 yr old (very sensible) daughter.